Although he would have
much preferred to be remembered as a highly successful military hero, Lew Wallace has been
thwarted in this ambition and is best known as an author. Born in Indiana, he had worked
as a clerk and early displayed a fascination for Mexico which would affect him in later
years. During the Mexican War he served as a second lieutenant in the lst Indiana but saw
only minor action. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar in his native state and seven years
later entered the state senate.
With the outbreak of the Civil War he offered
his services, and his assignments included: adjutant general of Indiana (April 1861);
colonel, 11th Indiana (April 25, 1861); colonel, 11th Indiana (reorganized August 31,
1861); brigadier general, USV (September 3, 1861); commanding 3rd Division, District of
Cairo, Department of the Missouri (February 14-17, 1862); major general, USV (March 21,
1862); commanding 3rd Division, Army of the Tennessee (February 17-June 1862); commanding
8th Corps, Middle Department (March 22, 1864-February 1,1865 and April 19-August 1, 1865);
and also commanding the department (March 22, 1864-February 1,1865 and April 19-June 27,
1865).
His career got off to a promising start when he
routed an inferior Confederate force at Romney, Virginia. Promoted to brigadier general,
he was given charge of a newly organized division in the midst of the operations against
Fort Donelson and was soon rewarded with a second star. However, that spring his
reputation plummeted after the battle of Shiloh. On the first day his division was
stationed north of the main army at Crump's Landing, and a series of contradictory orders
from Grant forced him to countermarch his command and delayed his arrival on the main
battlefield until the fighting was nearly over. He redeemed himself on the second day, but
a scapegoat was needed for the near disaster the day before and this was Wallace. Sent
home to await further orders, he offered his services to Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton
and, despite his high rank, took temporary command of a regiment during the emergency
posed by Kirby Smith's invasion of Kentucky. With Cincinnati threatened, Wallace was
placed in charge of a mostly civilian defense force. Through a show of tremendous energy
he was able to save the city without a major fight. He was then head of the commission
which examined Buell's handling of the invasion and other boards until placed in charge in
Maryland in early 1864. There he bought valuable time for the defenders of Washington
during Early's drive into the state when he made a stand at Monocacy with an inferior
scratch force.
At the close of the war he sat on the
court-martial which tried the Lincoln conspirators and presided over that which sent
Andersonville chief Henry Wirz to the gallows. He then joined a movement to aid the Juarez
forces against Maximilian in Mexico. He tried to raise money and troops and even accepted
the title of major general from the Juarez group. On November 30, 1865, he resigned from
the U.S. service, but his Mexican venture collapsed and he realized little of the money
which he had hoped to gain from it. In later years he was governor of the New Mexico
Territory and a diplomat to Turkey. As a prolific writer, who often drew upon his own
experiences, he is best remembered for Ben Hur.- A Tale of the Cbrist, one of the
most popular novels of the nineteenth century. (McKee, Irving, "Ben Hur"
Wallace, the Life of General Lew Wallace)
Source: "Who Was Who In The Civil War" by Stewart Sifakis